Seven hundred and sixty-nine long-tailed duck were counted which, aside from gulls, made them the most numerous bird in this year's Christmas Bird Count. There were, however, only a third as many long-tailed duck seen this year compared to last year's count of 2,168.
Some Petersburg residents spent the day in single-digit temperatures and several feet of fresh snow Dec. 20 to participate in the annual Christmas Bird Count, documenting 57 species and a total of 7,318 birds around Mitkof Island.
"The Christmas Bird Count weather this year provided a snow challenge unlike any we've had for many years," said Brad Hunter, who coordinates the Mitkof Island bird count which has been conducted annually since 1989.
"Most people involved commented that there didn't seem to be many birds this year," said Hunter.
The survey results confirmed those observations for pas...
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